First GP practice in Birmingham recognised for outstanding patient care.

Ridgacre Medical Centres have been recognised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for providing outstanding primary care services to their patients. Established in 1935 and located in Quinton, Ridgacre House Surgery is the first practice in Birmingham to receive this rating, with their other surgery, The Nechells Practice, receiving a rating of good, with outstanding features.

Speaking about the ratings, Dr Maurice Conlon, a partner at Ridgacre said: “As a team, we all feel very proud and humbled at both of our ratings. The CQC experience has given us an invaluable lens to review the care that we offer our patients. We would like to thank the team at NHS Birmingham CrossCity CCG, who helped with the attention to detail that was needed for our inspection.”

The CQC were particularly impressed by their systems for learning, the team’s openness and vigilance, listening and acting on patient feedback, innovative and proactive ways to improve patient outcomes and sharing best practice.

Ridgacre has a long history of innovation; a range of schemes have been developed to deliver service improvements, which have been implemented widely.

They established the first GP patient panel in Birmingham, giving them their motto ‘patients in partnership with professionals’. In addition, a project piloted by Ridgacre to improve communication with paramedics to help protect patients from hospital admission, is now being implemented right across the city. They also have the first primary care based Hepatitis C clinic in the West Midlands, which brings life- changing treatment to vulnerable patients.

Karen Helliwell, Director of Primary Care and Integration at NHS Birmingham CrossCity Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) added: “This great news and recognition for the team at Ridgacre Medical Centres, their patients and primary care in Birmingham.

“We are absolutely committed to supporting all of our patients to ensure that they can access and receive high-quality primary care. Ridgacre are a great example of how all GP practices can aspire to be outstanding.” — with Jenny Piper.